US Votes 'No' on Sun's Java Plan

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US Votes 'No' on Sun's Java Plan

In what could be a blow to Sun Microsystems' effort to have its Java language recognized as a global standard, the United States has used its vote on the International Standards Organization to turn thumbs down on the idea.

Six other members of the 27-country body - Australia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Sweden, and the United Kingdom - voted for Sun's revised proposal. However, the United States' vote, as the opinion of a leading power in the high-tech industry, could turn the tide against Sun.

But Sun officials said after the vote was announced today that they remained optimistic that their effort, launched early this year, was still alive. They noted that a majority of the members of the US Technical Advisory Group voted for the proposal, though not the two-thirds majority needed to win official approval.

More importantly, Sun said, the nations that have voted for the proposal to make the company a "publicly available standards submitter" all voted against Sun's plan in its earlier incarnation.

"The United States is one of 27 countries and they have one vote like everyone else," said Jim Mitchell, JavaSoft vice president of technology and architecture. "The votes so far are 6 to 1 in favor. All of the other votes were previously 'no' with comments - now changed to 'yes.' Things are looking reasonably good."

Much is at stake for Sun and the Java development community.

If Sun succeeds in its standards bid, it would maintain control over the evolution of the technology, making changes as it sees fit. Normally, the International Standards Organization will not grant this authority to a private enterprise, but Sun has argued that, as Java's inventor and shepherd through early development, it is best positioned to make necessary changes and is in constant contact with the developer community.

Such a position would put Sun squarely in the path of Microsoft. The Java founder sued the software maker earlier this month alleging, in effect, that it's trying to hijack Java and create its own proprietary version of the language.

The software giant has argued that Sun's implementation of Java is deficient. Further, Microsoft says it's inappropriate for a single company - a competitor, no less - to be recognized as a standard submitter. Microsoft's statement after today's announcement of the US vote was suffused with the tension between the companies.

"Microsoft is glad to see the US vote to uphold the integrity of the international standards process," the statement said. "Sun's proposal to have ISO endorse their proprietary technology is a brazen marketing stunt that risks significantly devaluing the entire international standards process. Sun either needs to go all the way and make Java a real open standard or admit it is proprietary."

Sun's initial proposal was submitted in March. In a July vote, only three of the 27 organization members approved, while 20 others wanted revisions made before the plan proceeded any further into the review stage. Most of the comments concerned Sun's stewardship of the Java technology, and the rights other companies would have to use the Java name in their products.

At a news conference last month, JavaSoft's Mitchell said, "Sun cannot and will not surrender its trademarks for the Java platform to ISO or anyone else." He likened Java to Windows, and said, "We'll consider putting the Java trademarks in the public domain when Microsoft relinquishes control over the Windows specification name and trademark."